Serious Players
by Amelia Lynette Conner
Summary: Out of all the Players in every world, a stubborn woman with more experience than necessary has been chosen to guide the Batter in his sacred mission. She knows her way around puzzle systems like the back of her hand, but her easily aggravated personality might get her in more trouble than she barganed for. And what's this? She knows Zacharie and Sugar? Possible Player/Batter
1. Chapter 1

_**Okay, Can I just say, I really have no idea what I'm doing, writing this XD**_

_**I just beat OFF, again, for the fourth time, and I guess it finally got to me. I had to write SOMETHING, so here we are! Writing an OFF story with a not-self-insert Player who might as well be a self-insert, on my mobile. This took me two hours and, no, I didn't proof read it. If I get any views or anything, I might just reread, get a beta, and rewrite this.**_

_**Anyways, have fun with this scribble and let me just inform you, Archive of our own seems to have some more fics that aren't on here. Thought you'd like to know**_

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**Welcome, Player**

**You have been assigned to a being called, "The Batter".**

**Batter has an important mission. Be sure that it's accomplished.**

**We will drop you off at Zone 0.**

**Good Luck.**

**For more information, find the one called the Judge.**

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She was thin and tall, though not as tall as the batter, with thick thighs and a confident stance. Her blond, almost white, hair was braided back out of her face, and just touched her shoulders blades. A hat shaded her face, much like the Batter, but unlike Batter with his blank expression, a cocky smirk that matched her stance could be seen from under the white hat. White short-shorts and a tight white tank top left little to the imagination, but the 2 sizes too big sweater lying undone on her shoulders could easily remedy that. The only things keeping the woman from disappearing on a white backdrop was the sweater, being black, and the slightest pink tint of her skin.

She was nothing like he had imagined his player would be, yet at the same time, she exactly what he felt he should have expected.

They both strode forward to meet at the center of the metal platform, stopping a little less than a meter away from one another. "You're the Batter?" She asked, though by her expression and the way she said it, she already knew the answer.

"You're my Player." He responded in kind. Her smirk turned into a grin.

Tilting her head up to look at the tall man properly, she allowed her unit to glimpse her face, wide childish brown eyes gleaming up at him. "It's good to meet you, Batter." He gave a simple nod in reply. She giggled slightly. "Glad to have a partner that won't talk my ear off, for once. Let's go find the Judge." She tugged her hat snugly into place, hiding her eyes from the world.

Curiosity rose in the Batter, but he ignored it and followed Player, gripping his bat tight in preparation, and watching as the blond braid bounced from shoulder to shoulder. Omnipresent and all-knowing as his player must be, they probably wouldn't appreciate such simple questions.

He saw the Player stop and tensed, waiting for their first fight, but frowned when all he saw was a cat leaving the building in front of them. Seeing the pure white coloration and sharp grin though, he didn't let his guard down.

"There cannot be any other living beings in zone 0, so I must assume that you are only a mere figment of my imagination." The Player snorted in amusement, and glanced back at a seemingly baffled Batter. She looked back and shrugged to herself; she had seen weirder in her travels. "Nevertheless," The cat continued. "I will introduce myself. I am the Judge, and I am aching to know your name, dear illusory interlocutor."

Batter opened his mouth to respond, seeing as his player needn't answer such a basic question, but she beat him to it, placing her hands on her hips confidently. "I'm the Player, assigned to Batter to assist him on his sacred mission."

"Even though you are but an inexistent apparition in my eyes, it is a pleasure to meet you." The cat replied, purring quietly and barely glancing at the man standing by the Player.

"I believe we are in need of your services." Batter spoke, stepping up to his player's side.

"Many people are in need of my services, you know." The Judge said, glancing slyly up at the man. Slinking towards them, he stated, "Everybody loves cats." Winding himself around the bemused woman's ankles, he purred all the louder. "We rub ourselves against their legs and purr in the most insistent manner. They adore that~" He pressed his head against Batter's leg.

"I'm not talking about that kind of help." Batter's voice was tight, not knowing whether he could trust the creature so close to the Player.

The cat slipped forward and sat ahead of them, looking at them from behind him. "I see... but what sort of service could I offer to an ectoplasmic entity?"

"I have a sacred mission to fulfill. I must purify the world." His player seemed to inflate a serious look crossing her face as her respect for the man beside her grew. Many would fin the goal laughable, but she took pride in being a part of it in this world.

"There is no objective more laudable than yours." The Judge responded with a flat tone, either not believing it possible, or still not believing in their existance at all. "I accept to serve you as a guide through this area, if it is of any help to you."

"Thanks."

"Yeah," Player laughed. "But I made sure to ask questions before being sent here. We won't need too much instruction."

The Judge nodded. "Be that as it may; I will meet you ahead."

The two stood and watched as the cat walked away, curiosity gnawing at the Batter's stomach. Maybe one or two questions couldn't hurt.

As though reading his mind, Player turned to him and smiled crookedly. "You know, you can ask me anything you want. If I can answer it I will."

Batter looked away from her, almost embarrassed that she caught him so easily."If you insist..." He only continued when he saw her nod, ignoring the amused look on her face. "Before, you said partner... why?"

She seemed to recoil in surprise. "That's your first question?" She asked rhetorically, sounding incredulous. "Or course we're partners! I might be the supposed all-powerful one, but where would I be able to go without you?" She laughed. "In this world, I'd be doomed without you!" His player strode forward, before turning to look back at him, 100 wat smile on her face. "C'mon, walk and talk."

He jogged forward to meet her long strides, and followed her without question as she entered the building in front of them, and not in the direction the Judge went in. From her pocket, he saw her extract a note pad, and a pen. "If I know worlds like this, we're gonna need to write this down." He looked up to see what she was frowning at, and proceeded to frown as well when all he saw was a series of numbers written on the wall.

"You've done this before?" He found himself asking, and bit his tongue, hoping he hadn't miss spoken. One never knew with the players.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her pad, and blinked at the man. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

He fidgeted, slightly uncomfortable with her frowning at him. for all he knew she could be glaring. "I asked if you had done this before." He repeated, not letting his nervousness bleed into his tone.

"Oh." She laughed slightly. "My behaviour must be a little baffling to you, isn't it? Yeah, I've done this dozens of times. Granted, thesystem and puzzels, security if you will, aren't always in the same system, so I've just taken to going everywhere and writing everything down."

Dozens of times? He pressed his palm to his shoulder briefly, trying not to feel disheartened. Another though crossed his mind as they left the empty room once more. "If you've done this so many times, you must be good."

She smirked up at him. "I guess. I know there are others that are better, but I've never failed a mission in my life." Her face was full of pride, grin spreading across her face almost as widely as the Judge's own. "Can you check the box over there? I'll start climbing." She pointed over to the wall on their left, and curiously, Batter did as she said and rounded the corner. Sitting there innocently, was a chest, the same yellow color as the rest of the zone. He frowned, wondering how she could have seen it from where they were, before passing it off with a shrug. All-seeing appeared to be more literal then he assumed.

Ascending the stairs, Batter met Player the top. She grinned at him, not having really waited at all, before approaching the cat once more, Batter one step behind.

The Judge cocked his head to the side. "Allow me to confess that I find you quite tangible for a phantasmagorial being." A fan-what? Batter furrowed his brow, hidden under his cap. Was that even a word? If player's amused smirk was anything to go by, probably not. "Might you in fact be a creature of flesh and blood?"

"I think so, yes." Batter responded, not really knowing how to answer a question like that. Of course you were flesh and blood! He quickly stopped Player from pinching herself, not wanting her to hurt herself just to make fun of the thought of her not being real.

The Judge nodded along, a wonderfully curious tone leaking into his voice. "So I have been mistaken from the beginning. You did not even interrupt me in my deluded phantasms..." Player snorted, but didn't say anything. "This is relatively bizarre. I must say, for you are the first living being I was given a chance to encounter in this lieu. I had in fact concluded that zone 0 was an empty land. Obviously I was misled."

The player turned to the batter and said, "That probably means you can relax for now. We won't be running into any foes quite yet." He nodded, but only relaxed marginally, keeping his sights on the cat before them. Only the player could be trusted explicitly.

"However, there exists other zones."

"I think we're aware of this." Player cut in, speaking Batter's mind for him. "There are very few goals of purity in which fighting is avoidable."

"Of course." The Judge nodded in acknowledgement. "Would you like me to teach you the art of violent confrontation?"

Batter, already knowing how to fight, looked to his Player for the answer. With so many 'systems' for her to have learnt, she might prefer a refresher. However, his player shook her head. "I've got that part down already." She smirked, "And as much as I like beating cats, it's really not necessary." Player tapped the side of her head and pat Batter on his arm, tearing his attention away from the creature before them. "I've done this enough times to know all of the systems, it's just a matter of which one this is. Anything I need to know, I'm sure Batter can fill in for me." She smiled up at the face she couldn't see.

"Well, I will hope that you truly know what you are doing and that your arrogance doesn't precede you." The judge responded with a tilt of scorn, but mostly colored in amusement, as though he couldn't /wait/ to see how that turns out for the two. "However, your training has not reached its end you. Let me ask you to follow me, if you still want me as you guide."

The cat proceeded all but disappear in front of them. Batter, however, decided it was worth the effort of thinking about. "Should we bother?"

Player laughed. "Well, considering this is the only way out right now, I'd say we should." He nodded, stepping up to the ladder first.

The woman held back a laugh, knowing why he was going first. It was gentlemanly, but she couldn't help but mess with him. "You're going first?" He nodded wordlessly, but glanced shortly at her bare legs before averting his eyes. "But what if I fall?"

"I... I hadn't thought of that." He admitted. stepping back from the ladder, Player couldn't help but feel a little bad. He was taking her life as his responsibility, and maybe a little too much so. She shouldn't tease him on something he took so seriously.

"Hey, I'm only teasing." She smiled. "It was nice of you to consider modesty, but honestly, I don't really care. And I'm not about to fall when I haven't even been here for half an hour." Moving behind him, she pushed him forward, stifling a laugh when his arms whipped out as though he needed the balance. "Go ahead, I'll be right behind you."

When they reached the roof, Player guided him to the stairs heading downwards. In the room they entered, the Player immediately headed for the center of the room, Batter watching from the sidelines. She immediately noticed the numbers on the walls. Ignoring the presence of the Judge, she wandered about the room, examining the floating bricks. As soon as she reached the one in the top left corner of the room and touched it, it went translucent and she let out a victorious cry. "It's _this_ system!"

Quick as a bunny, she dashed from cube to cube, turning each one translucent in an order only she seemed to be aware of. The staircase behind the Judge was suddenly unblocked, the bars surrounding it disappearing into thin air. Batter unquestioningly followed her down the stairs after the cat. "I love systems like these." Player was saying. "So simple, yet sometimes, so difficult to figure out. absolutely brilliant!" Her muttering didn't make it much easier to understand what she did.

The next room was much like the last, only, the blocks were in the center and there were more of them. "Alright," Player cracked her knuckles and grinned at her partner. "I guess I should explain this time." Griping his sleeve, she dragged him to the center of the room, facing the wall that had 3 numbers on either side of it. "1, 2, 6, 8, 2, 3. Obviously, this means something of significance. Now behind us, are eight blocks, and as we can see on the wall, all of the numbers range from 1-8. You with me so far?"

He believed he understood what she was saying so far, so he nodded. He just didn't know where she was going with it.

"The first number, is 1. So, here's what we do. This, is the first block." She turned and placed her hand on the block closest to them and the cat. It turned translucent. "The second number is 2, so we move on to this one." She touched the one next to it and it started bobbing in place, but didn't change opacity. "Number three is 6, so we need to touch the 6th one. however, if we were to touch this one," She reached and touched the one in front of him. They all became solid again. "Obviously, that's the wrong block. You still with me?"

"Yeah, but why didn't the second one change like the first?"

"That," She smiled, glad he was keeping up. "Is because we're gonna use it twice. See," She pointed to the other side of the wall. "Over there is another 2, letting us know, we'll be pressing it again. Now, Just a sec..." She darted around the puzzle, pressing blocks until she was back to 2, and he watched as it became just like the others she pressed. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to push the one in front of you?" He nodded and laid his hand on it, watching as all of them followed in suit and became clear. at the same time, the bars disappeared again, and the Judge followed the steps.

"Ahaha, finally! After all that exertion, the eagerly awaited recompense makes its entrance to the scene!" Batter growled slightly as the Judge, who has done nothing as of yet, walk off to the cat food conveniently placed in the room.

Player pat his arm, and strode into the middle of the room once more and soon frowned. "No numbers..." examining the boxes in the room, Player snorted and pulled out her note pad. "Knew we'd be needing this." She mumbled, before entering the code into the phone-like positioned blockes "4, 4... 8... 2... 8, 7, aaaand 0." And just like that, the puzzle was complete. Batter no longer felt put out that she had been sent to so many others before him. If that was why she was able to do what she was doing so well, then he would consider it a blessing that she was passed on and selected to assist him. "Want to head out the door to the right and get the item? I'll go figure out the next thing we need to do."

Nodding in agreement, and frowning at the cat as he walked by, Batter headed out the way he was instructed.

One Silver Flesh later he was moving back the way he came, and his frown deepened when he saw the cat wasn't there anymore. He quickened his steps. If that creature had done anything to his player-

"-by the contrast of bad taste it imposes on your view of it's clashing color, defying any sensible course of plastic arts." Batter slowed to a halt beside the blond woman, glaring somewhat at the Judge who didn't even pause to look at him. "However do not judge it too quickly, becasue despite its criticisable appearance, this red cube is of undeniable use."

The Player sighed in annoyance, impatient and fed up with the things she made sure to find out before starting the journey at all. "Excuse me, but Iam aware of what the red and the yellow cubes do. Through it, we should be able to reach zone 1, and all those after it, as well as nurse our wounds, and take a break in our progress."

"Well then, I invite you to try it out, in order to discover locations more populous than this deserted land." Ignoring anything else the cat had to say, the Player wait for the event where she would get what she needed to continue. Taking the card, with a picture of the sign Leo, she listened with half an ear as he told her, "That she and consult him at anytime in their travels when they see each other again".

Looking up at the Batter, she smiled and they nodded at each other, both walking forward to lay a hand on the box. Maybe now, the Batter thought, he could actually start being of use to his Player.

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_**Ugh, doing bold and Italics hates me on copy-paste. oh well. I guess I'll fix that lter, when I, maybe, rewrite it. Now, time to write the stories peole are waiting on. *sigh***_

_***edit* AHAHAHA new laptop, did all of the bolding and stuff I couldn't before. Gonna Beta and edit and all of that good stuff now. Because I have lovely reviewers~ **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Writing something like this makes really realise just how strange a world OFF is. But anyways, HEY LOOK UPDATE. I'm getting better at continuing stories, even if they take me forever X3 I really want to hurry up and get to... something, but I need to actually write what happens before that.**_

_**I skipped a lot of dialogue this chapter, I hope no one minds. **_

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There was nothing. Nothing as far as the eye could see. Black, black, black, and nothing else. The Player shivered, goosebumps rising on her arms as indefinable murmurs whispered across her shoulders. Clenching her fists to keep herself from shaking, she whipped around on the spot, eyes searching.

"Batter! Batter where-" She stifled a scream. A hand white as bone reached out of the darkness and faster than she could react, it grasped her shoulder and out from the nothing, Player sighed in relief, the Batter had found her. "Thank the Masters you're still here."

"...Master?" He paused, confused for a moment, but when she didn't answer he moved on. "Do you know where we are?" He released her shoulder and tugged on his cap, looking uncomfortable with their surroundings.

"Mhmm, I just didn't expect it to live up to its name so well." The Player ruffled the hair near her ears, trying to ignore the whispers around them, but only succeeding in pulling hair out of her braid. She couldn't really make out what was being said, but wasn't sure she wanted to know. "The Nothingness..."

Pulling out the 'Leo Card' that the Judge had given her, she flipped it about in her hand. "We need to do something with this, I know, but what?"

The Batter held his hand out, and she placed the card between his thumb and forefinger, knowing he knew more about the world than she did. "Well, tickets works by tearing..." Player nodded, filing the information away for their future fights. "But if we tear it and that's wrong..."

"You never know if you don't try!" She grinned, reaching forward and snagging the opposite end. "Shall we?" He hesitated, frowning. "If you have any other ideas, I'll always listen to your input, partner."

Tugging the card out of the player's hand, he looked at the lion on the front briefly, before flipping it over to look at the back. It was blank but for two red dots and four symbols in each corner that meant very little to him. His player, however, might recognize it; she might call them partners, but he still knew that she was better at this sort of thing than he was. Especially if Zone 0 was anything to go by.

"Does the back look familiar to you at all? Anything like those puzzles you were talking about?" Taking the card back, the Player examined it before an odd, bewildered look crossed her face. "Well...?"

"Whoever made these knew it would be me who came here to guide you." She mumbled, moving to stand beside the Batter to better show him what she knew.

"You see these little symbols in the corners?" She asked holding the card out in front of her. He nodded at her to continue. "They're an old language from another game I guided someone in. The Nomads who wrote in this language used these symbols for, north, south, east and west. "As far as I know, I'm the only player other than one of the lost ones to have been there, and I'm pretty sure they can't be here."

"The lost ones?" Batter enquired. His Player said a lot of strange things, but he supposed it must be common among what seems to be the many players.

She made an uncomfortable sound in the back of her throat. "A story for another day. Right now though..." She closed her eyes and, unseen to the Batter, a screen appeared from behind her eyelids. There in the haunting black abyss that made up most of what she saw, on and off of the screen, stood two pixelated figures, standing side by side, facing upwards. On the ground beneath their feet, she saw something that she couldn't see with her eyes open; a red spot under the figures' feet.

Without opening her eyes, she groped blindly for the Batter, and confused, he took the hand. Gripping the hand tight as not to lose him, Player guided him through the darkness, towards the dot on the screen that coincided with the one on the 'Leo Card'.

"Alright." She smiled, opening her eyes and releasing Batter's hand. "We're in position, so I guess now is the time to tear it." Not questioning her baffling actions, he placed his faith in the woman, taking the opposite end of the card once more. With a loud tearing noise that silenced the whispering voices Player had almost forgotten about, the darkness ripped open around them, revealing the green surfaces of Zone 1.

The two exchanged a relieved grin and a small smile before stepping out of the rift and into the plastic rain. Player was just glad that rolled off of the skin and didn't coat anyone in plastic. She watched as Batter rubbed his free hand over the back of his neck, showing his discomfort at the feeling of it pelting his bare skin, and giggled slightly.

Pulling up her hood, she took hold of the zipper of the sweater and dragged it up, encompassing her almost completely white form in a shroud of black from the knees up. Her white neck and the bottom of her face were all that was visible other than the protruding white rim of her hat. Her bare legs almost made it look as though she wasn't wearing anything underneath it and the Batter smirked, wondering if the all-knowing figure realized that.

"What're you smirking at? We have a Zone to purify!" Apparently not, he thought, watching as she ran forward, the rim of her sweater rising just beneath where he knew her short-shorts lye with every step she took. Shaking his head, he ran after her, not wanting to risk his Player in a possibly hostile area. Especially not dressed like that.

He, for now, had no need to worry. The first thing they ran into was a fenced in area with a small train, the station named Elsen, with a large sign stating just that on the other side. Player stared in befuddlement at the backward 'E's, before shrugging it off.

She wasn't, however, able to shrug off the terrified looking creature that stood off to the left of the station. The man just stood there, shaking, skin white as a sheet, with bags under his hollow eyes. Tugging on the Batter's sleeve, she discreetly pointed him out.

"Oh," He spoke lowly, looking towards where she pointed. "Those are the Elsen. They make up most of the population."

"What's wrong with him?" Player's voice trembled worriedly. "He looks so scared..."

Batter nodded his head in agreement with her. "They usually are. They have severe anxiety, though you won't find anyone more kind than an Elsen. Usually, just approaching one is enough to make them wheeze."

Player's brow furrowed in sympathy. "That's so sad..." She mumbled, allowing Batter to take her arm and steer her onto the train.

Tearing her thoughts away from the Elsen before it took over her entire thought process, the woman looked down at the controls before her. There was a switch pulled above the name of the station they were on, and a green light shone bellow, Beside it were four more station names, but only one other had a light on at all. Damien had a red light.

The Player pulled the Damien switch and pushed the Elsen one back, watching the lights switch colours and quickly feeling the expected lurch as the train started to move. It didn't take very long for the train to reach its destination, but Player used what little time it gave to make sure she wouldn't start a pity party. That was the last thing she wanted to do in-game. She could tell Batter was relieved when the wrinkles on her forehead disappeared. Batter himself, while happy that she wouldn't be distracted from their mission, felt much more enlightened seeing the Player show sympathy towards such small beings.

Getting off the train they made sure to be careful about not stepping too close to the edge of the platform, seeing as all the eye could see beyond it was a plastic ocean. Quickly, they came upon a building, the same green as the ground beneath them.

One of the Elsen, almost identical to the one before, though wearing a hardhat, walked out of the building just as they were approaching. Looking up from the ground, the pale worker's feet froze in place upon seeing them, and he appeared to withdraw into himself.

The Player gave him a kind smile and his tension loosened slightly. "Uhm... hhhh... a visitor?" He stammered.

Batter remained silent, looking uncomfortable in the presence of the newcomer. Player grasped his sleeve. "Yes." The woman answered in his stead, keeping it short in hopes of not making the Elsen more nervous.

"I, Uhm... Welcome to the Smoke mines. Hhhh... May I know who you are? Are you an Inspector?" The thought seemed to make him even more nervous, if that was possible, but it was for a thing that the Player could actually make note of. There was something wrong in the mines. It almost made her sigh in relief; the plot had arrived.

"No." Batter answered, soft voiced and reluctant. "I'm the Batter. This is my Player. We've come to exterminate the impure spirits."

"The... Batter? The... hhhh... Impure spirits? Player?" His near invisible brows furrowed, "Are you... hhhh... some for of prophet? Or perhaps a man of belief?"

"Yeah." Batter smirked. Player glanced up at him questioningly, and he smiled down at her. "Something like that." She flushed. Player couldn't help but marvel at how high players were held in esteem in this world. Usually she was just seen as a spirit guide or Tactician of sorts. It was odd.

"I... Uhm, hhhh" The Elsen's nervousness seemed about ready to com back full swing. "Who sent you?"

"I follow the orders of no one. No one, except my Player."

"Ah..." He turned to look at the Player, Batter tensing under the sleeve she had grasped. "I don't recognise you. Hhhh...You must be, uhm, a member of superior personnel." She didn't confirm of deny it, shifting her grip on the Batter's arm to loop her hand around his forearm, squeezing gently. He stopped glaring at the Elsen with a faint blush.

"In any case," Her head whipped back to the worker. "That's good. It mean our, uh, requests have been acknowledged... Hhhh... Here, I'm going to explain your task." Nodding, she closed her eyes, watching the screen rather than the Elsen before her.

**Uhm, you're in the smoke mines of Damien, the southern part of zone 1. Here, we send workers into deep tunnels to unearth metal from the ground, freeing embedded smoke that was trapped in the depths. Thanks to a variety of tools we are able to put some of it into bottles, which the Queen sends to the other zones. The rest of it flows free, forming the air that our lungs inhale and exhale... Uh... So we can live. As the first of four elements... It's an important element. Because without smoke, people would have nothing to breath.**

Player hummed for a moment, eyes remaining closed for a few seconds longer. "Curious pictures." She mumbled under her breath. "Doesn't look a thing like what we see here..."

Question upon question were stacked in the Batters mind, but he wouldn't ask. At least, he'd wait a moment before asking another one. Hearing that, though she didn't intend for him to, only spawned more. Did she maybe have contact with an even higher being, giving her information? Or could she see things he couldn't?

"Uh... There we are. And so... Hhhh... Finally... uh... How do I put this?" The Elsen fidgeted, hunching further in on himself with every second that passed by.

Pursed his lips, shifting his weight onto one foot. Player almost expected him to put a hand on his hip, but he didn't, staying -for the most part- stoic. "Where are the impures?" He prompted.

The Elsen jumped. "Uh!... Yes... There we go. There are many... Hhhh... Specters in the smoke mines. They are becoming more and more aggressive..."

Player stood confident, back straight, and mouth set in a grim line. "We can handel it. Just show us where to go." She deflated slightly when he shrunk, but held firm, hopingto move on and get to work. The mines were bound to be dark, and she was never able to get used to that, no matter how many games she participated in.

"Hhhh... right, uhm, well... There a lot of Specters in the mines, but regulations forbid visitors to access them. However, there's an annex tunel no one ever goes into... But... Uhm, a miner when down there some time ago, and he saw something strange, he said. Nothing like the usual. So I thought... maybe... Hhhh... it's the chief of the spectres. Uhm, so, that's your task. If you accept, you'll go into the annex tunnel and kill the chief of the spectres. Then the spectres will disappear and we can work properly again."

He started fidgeting, rubbing his arms as goose bumps appeared under his sleeve. "T-there we go, there we, uhm... Hhhh... Do you have any questions?"

"No." Batter answered shortly, while player shook her head, hair coming loose under her hood.

"AH. Great... Impeccable. The tunnel is right down there. I-I'll... I'll wait here."

Grabbing the hand that was still loosely clutching his sleeve, Batter looked to his pu-partner, and saw her nod, grin wide and confident. "I'd like to check the house first." She said, tilting her head to the left where he saw a small building stood.

She was slightly disappointed that there was nothing of great importance inside, but shugged thinking it was better safe than sorry. A luck ticket and an anxious Elsen were all they found before heading off into the annex tunnel.

Player walked ahead of the Batter, at her own insistence, knowing that any threat in the dark, gloomy tunnels would be detected faster by herself so long as she kept her eyes shut and watching the screen. What she saw made her sigh in annoyance. "What is it?" Batter asked, ever conscious of his player's safety.

"The Judge." She answered, pursing her lips. He had to be one of the guide characters, but she couldn't approve of the way he seemed to ignore Batter over herself. For the Master's sake! She was a helping hand not a chosen one of prophecy!

Batter growled as the grinning cat came into view. "Well well, who do we have here? Is that not the Player and her picturesque jumping jack, the Batter?" The Judge purred, sitting in the center of the corridor.

"Are you the Specters' leader?" Batter asked, cutting straight to the chase, tightening his grip on the bat in preparation. Player hummed, laying her hand over his and loosening his fingers. She had thought over all of the previous interaction with the Judge and knew that they wouldn't be fighting the Judge so soon, if at all.

"Aha, no no, certainly not." He laughed, completely at ease dispite the hostile Batter, as though knowing his Player companion would not let him strike unless prompted. And the Judge would not be so unintellegent to provoke an angry man trying to protect a lady. "I am only passing though, not unlike the smoke which is being extracted from with pale metallic place."

Player blinked her eyes, and looked around, noticing for the first time that the Judge was right, it really was a matallic place. The walls straight up looked like they were made from solid steel, and thinking back, so did the buildings, even if they were the wrong color. And the ground... She stopped thinking about it. It might be one of the oddest landscape and climate yet, but if that's standard here, then there's no use questioning it.

"However" The Judge continued. "I believe I know where the one you are taking for an ectoplasm can be found." The cat stretched and stood, gesturing them to follow with his head before turning. He led the two to a white ring, floating in place by the wall at the end of the tunnels.

Both Player and Batter stared at it, not seeing the importance of such a thing. The Player, however, knew that such a thing in the middle of nowhere in a game, was probably meant to be used for _something_. "Well, what is it?" She asked, breaking the silence.

The Judge gave the closest thing to a shrug a cat could give. "To tell the truth, I'm perplexed." He turned to look at the object. "I think it is one of those perculiar objects called a 'sphericle Add-on'."

"Ah!" Player dropped a fist into her palm. "So that's what it is!"

The Judge's tail twitched, grin stretching even further as he looked over to her. "You have heard of them?"

"Yeah." She nodded, smiling slightly as she glanced at her partner. He had a smiling twitching at his lips as he watched and waiting for her explanation. "They fill out the party system- er, that is, they're an assist of sorts. They help us fight."

Batter's lips pulled taut, and she could imagine his brows furrowing under his hat in thought. "How...?"

She smiled sheepishly. "No idea, really."

"Perhaps it would prove to be benificial to attempt to accroach it?" The Judge suggested. "Any attempts of my own have proved futile, but perhaps the Player, with her otherworldliness..." He trailed off, leaving an invite open at the end.

Glacning at one another once more, Player moved to approach the Add-on, but stopped in front of it, wondering how it seemed to stay perfectly round and hollow, unmoving as she walked around the side of it. That... made _no_ sense, no matter what world she was in. But she just sighed and reached forward, intent of forgetting about that as well as she could. Her hand barely brushed the Add-on when in started spinning, and Player found she couldn't pull her arm back. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting, but as the screen appeared before her eyes, a notification appeared.

_**Add-on Alpha had joined you**_

She blinked her eyes open and stared at the ring circling her forearm, just above her wrist. Idly she noticed the grip Batter had taken of her bicep loosen of its near bruising grip, and that the Judge had started talking again, but ignored it all in favor of checking Alpha's stats in her menu. She closed her eyes once more after sending a reassuring to the Batter.

Player sighed, closing the menu but keeping her eyes closed to watch the dialogue. She could have used someone with less... physical stats, but for the beginning of a game it would have to do. And it would seem the chief of the specters wasn't here. She opened her eyes.

"-ossed the way of a single sound in the lieu."

The Batter nodded, turning to his Player. "Time to go?" He asked instead of asking if she was done. She nodded, letting him trail behind as to keep a wall between her and the Judge. It really make her wonder; she didn't like the Judge, he ignored her partner too much for that, but she didn't think he would hurt them.

Batter, on the other hand, couldn't shake the feeling that the cat was dangerous. That, if anything would be an obstacle in the end, it would be him, but Batter didn't know /why/. The cat wasn't impure, no, in fact it was nearly as pure as his Player. The Judge was more pure than himself, and he would be the first to say that he was very far from purity. He was amazed someone like the Player would even work with him...

Batter shook his head, banishing the thoughts coming to the surface. Now was not the time to think of such things. Now was the time to purify the world. Himself included.

Upon reaching ground level, Player noticed Batter was deeply immersed in thought, and lightly grasped his sleeve to guide him, speaking to the Elsen, and granting them entrance to the mines. She was glad there was a rule in their guides, or she would have had to figure out another way to get them in. The Batter shook himself out of his thought process just before they entered the mines, striding forward to take the point, bat held tightly in his right hand. Player smiled amusedly as they ascended the cold halls of smoke mines. He was so worried about her safety, not many are. They tend to think of the Player as invincable.

Batter tensed when they passed by the two Elsen on break inside the mouth of the tunnels, but relaxed maginaly when they left that room and entered the torch lined hall. They didn't run into a single Specter on the way between rooms, and Player could see Batter was getting impatient. So, when he gestured for her to stand near the floating little yellow health box, she did and watching cautiusly, slightly behind it as she ran her fingers along the Add-on Alpha.

"Show yourselves, corrupted children!" His risen voice echoed in the tunnels, making Player uneasy and worried about what would happen next. "I am the voice of forgiveness that'll eliminated your calamitous forms." Though uneasy, Player's eyes were glued to the man, watching as he spoke, surprisingly passionate compaired to his mostly monotonous tone. He held himself with great pride and confidence, and a strange thought crossed her mind. Wasn't pride a sin?

She had no time to think on it however. She gasped sharply as the man was surrounded by floating white figures with sad and dead expressions, elongated and legless, surrounded him. 8 specters showed up at once, and she closed once eye for control, knowing that she needed to see real time to stay alive.

"..." Batter stood unmoving and silent, looking each one in the dead, vacant eyes. He lifted his bat in front of him, holding it like a sword, before he spoke in a hushed tone. "Prepare yourselves to suffer my judgement."

And Player laughed.

* * *

_**Can I just skip the rest of the mines? XD Kidding. I'll probably have a bit of fun with the fighting this next part, but navigating the mines will probably be summarised as opposed to expanded on.**_


End file.
